…when she said i was done torturing and oppressing the proteins.
I have another thing to say….
In this post, The Reformist Dilemma and Neo-Imperialism, Eteraz suggests Condi wants to redraw the borders in MENA.
Birth pangs, anyone?
What did Rice mean by the new Middle East? The above map reveals. A new Shia state where Iraq used to be, a new Kurdistan, in Pakistan a Free Baluchistan, these are just some of the examples. The Armed Forces journal is arguing that the new world should look something akin to that map.
Not sure that is Condi’s goal.
But i really liked this.
The only possible solution is for a collection of Muslim nation-states to begin a movement using international legal remedies and diplomacy to make Mecca (and Medina) either independent nation-states unto themselves (as is the Vatican), or to have them rendered international protectorates, the task of their protection and maintainance falling upon the Muslim world jointly.
Yes. An international protectorate. And why not Jerusalem also?
From the Economist (premium content)
In 2000, when the Clinton administration made the last serious attempt at an overall Israeli-Palestinian settlement, proposals for dividing the mount (for example, by giving the Palestinians the platform’s surface, while leaving Israel everything beneath, including the wall) triggered howls of rage from both sides. Neither Israelis nor Palestinians could bear to give up any part of the structure.
It has since been argued that because partition will never be accepted, the two sides must either agree to disagree and focus on practical mattersâ€â€or else agree that in such a holy place, no human power can hold sway, so it should be subject only to the sovereignty of God. Nobody has defined what this proposal (first floated by the late King Hussein of Jordan) would mean in practice. It implies, perhaps, that the mount be denationalised, with international guarantees ensuring freedom of worship for all. But first the children of Abraham have to set aside their nationalistic ambitions.
We cannot get rid of religion, Dawkins’ blaming it for every ill of mankind aside. Religion will always be with us. We need to opportunistically exploit the inherent good in all religions. And a first step should be cross fertilization by open access to all the holy sites, Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and Rome, for all Abraham’s children.
From here in Maryland….. It’s Monday Morning!
Father Abraham, had many sons, many sons had faaaather Abraham;
I am one of them, and so are you…
Anyway, it would be good for them to be ‘denationalized’ that way we can set up a special crack team of around-the-clock Parousia monitors. They’ll um, monitor… cosmic waves, to try to determine if a distortion is beginning to occur which might result in Jesus spontaneously appearing above the mount of olives.
I wonder if he’ll have a tour bus? ‘The Jesus Returns Tour’ now with fire and judgement!
Not to be too irreverant, but I can already imagine people flocking to these newly denationalized sites to await eschatological events.
Good morning, Protein Wisdom!
TW: she… has returned?
wouldn’t that be a good thing?
Which sites have restricted access and why? What inherent good can we exploit to change this situation?
Pablo:
The holy sites of Mecca and Medina are forbidden to non-Muslims, double-extra forbidden to Jews.
As for “cross-pollination”, it’s the wrong prescription. Islam regards itself as the fulfillment, correction, and perfection of the preceding faiths, Christianity and Judaism. Even the most “moderate” of Muslims is unlikely to throw overboard so many tenets of Islamic belief, the better to indulge the multi-culti delusion that we are all the same except for headgear and cuisine.
As for not being all the same, read Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence, sometime. It tells an interesting fable about why Christianity failed to sink roots in Japan.
Sanity inspector, let’s not forget the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site and access is controlled by Muslims. Go figure.
Remember when the Palis went to war because a big fat Jew went for a walk?
Very sporting of the Jews, yes? From time to time the Jerusalem cops even have to stop isolated Jewish crazies from trying to blow up the Dome of the Rock mosque, so the Jewish Temple can be rebuilt.
If it would concentrate them all in once place and isolate them so the crazy dies out, maybe.
I wouldn’t mind bombing/blowing up the Muslim holy sites if only to break them of the idea that they are the fulfillment of the promise of Abhraham, law of Moses, coming of Christ, etc. Not a nice thing to say, but I would give the people a chance to clear out before we did it.
There’s no holy sites for a real Christian; the holy place is where and when two or more come together in His name.
Not that I would advocate such a thing; no, (I merely would not be bothered if it happened.) The implications interest me, however- and are perhaps revealing of the wholly temporal character of Islam.
Interesting, I think I may read that.
I agree though; Religions are all the same in that they more or less come from the same drive in mankind (the spiritual one) but aside from that, some are as different from one another as night and day.
In style AND substance.
TW: Heavy, this is…
Hmmm. I wasn’t allowed that Muslims or Jews (or people of any other faith) were disbarred from Rome, or the Vatican, or even St. Peter’s.
Forgive me, Nishi! But this as a first step reminds me of those Howard Dean posts we all used to do here. They went something like this:
Howard Dean’s 5-Point Plan for Balancing the Budget
1. Balance the Budget
2.
3.
4.
5.Impeach George Bush
It seems to me the opening Mecca to all religions isn’t so much a first step in creating religious cross-fertilization, but would actually be the end result of convincing Muslims there is a benefit to doing so.